Boys Basketball: Norristown fends off Plymouth Whitemarsh

WEST NORRITON — “I’ve just got to put the game away. I wasn’t thinking about missing them. I was confident.”

Norristown guard Luke Kelley’s mindset as he drained five crucial fourth-quarter free throws late in the fourth was not a complex one.

Powered by Kelley late and Josh Johnson early, the Norristown Eagles were able to stave off a furious Plymouth Whitemarsh rally to win at home, 60-55.

The first half couldn’t have gone much better for the Eagles. Johnson was perfect from the field, scoring 11 on 5-5 shooting. Luke Kelley and Jahbri Hargrove each chipped in with eight in the first two frames.

As a team, Norristown shot a red-hot 15-26 and scored 36 points.

PW, on the other hand, had a half to forget. Dee Bennett was the sole bright spot for the Colonials, scoring 10 of his team’s 18 on 4-5 shooting. The rest of the team’s eight points were scored on four free throws and 2-24 shooting from the field.

After the game, Eagle coach Mike Evans spoke about the importance of his team’s offensive diversity.

“On any given night, anybody can score,” he said. You can’t just kill one guy. We have other guys that can also hurt you.”

The Eagles’ ability to have multiple players pick up offensive slack came up big, as Johnson, who typically fills the stat sheet, was held scoreless in the fourth, and ended with 16 points.

Kelley finished with 15 points and Jahbri Evans scored 13. Evans also delivered from the charity stripe late, shooting 3-4 from the line in the fourth.

The Colonials’ second half was as good as their first was bad. PW outscored Norristown 37-24 in the two frames, led by Anthony McKie’s 12 and Andre Mitchell’s nine second half points. The Colonials were able to cut Norristown’s lead to as little as three points twice in the fourth, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of PW’s play was a focus of Colonial coach Jim Donofrio after the game.

After a lengthy stay in the locker room, Donofrio said that there were two things his team could take out of tonight’s performance.

He said, “The message is: ‘Hey guys, we’re a young, developing team. We’re still new at this, so that was pretty good,’” and “The other half of the message is that it’s not good enough. We played for sixteen minutes. We have to compete every minute of the game, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

“As young guys, they need to know that,” he explained. “I don’t think we competed the way we could.”

McKie, Bennett, and Mitchell’s performances were positives for the Colonials, each scoring in double figures with 16, 17, and 11, respectively.

“(It’s) a personal challenge,” Donofrio said about his team’s approach going forward. “I think everybody on the team has to personally challenge themselves and ask themselves ‘Can I give more?’”

“We were cautious. You can’t be cautious. You can take the first hit, but you can’t take the first five hits.”

Evans talked post-game about the importance of winning a game against a rival as big as PW. He said, “A win like this against PW is always big. They’re well coached. They play hard. They’re a crosstown rival and it’s really good to get a win.”

The Colonials play Tuesday, looking to rebound at home against Upper Dublin.

The Eagles’ next matchup is also Tuesday, against a Wissahickon that is finally healthy. Evans’ approach to the game is a simple one. “We’re just going to stick to our game plan,” he said. “(We’re going to) keep working hard and just come out there and play our game.”